I lay awake
heart pounding
the silence unbearable.
Scared to move for fear of another round of needless bullets spat out into the cold night air.
Their one purpose to hit the target
and hard.

They fly thick and fast.
At me
around me
cutting into the silence which now seems warm and inviting.
And hidden.

A bright light and a loud bang leave me hearing muffled words
trailing off into nothing as my eyes try to once again adjust to the safety of the darkness.

A foreign tongue
unable to translate
if only i'd paid attention when i was younger
i wouldn't be in this mess.
Straight out of school.
"Be all you can be" my dad said! "Be a man"
Well where are you now dad? When i need you the most?
But this is something i must face alone.
I must be a man.

The shouting has stopped.
Alone again.
Nothing new.
Unable to sleep it is now my thoughts that keep me company.

Trying not to feel the cold.
Longing to once again feel a warm bed or a tight embrace.
Knowing that they will be a long time coming.
How did i get here?
I know i didn't sign up for this.

It is late.
But not early enough.
Curled up awaiting morning and a new day.
Things will look different in the light.
The night however has not yet finished with me.
It will last and i know it.
It is not the first time i have been here.
This land was once shared.
This land was peaceful and full of warmth and love.
Now it is just divided and baron and as cold as ice.
Those who were once friends
now enemys.
Both sides fighting for a pointless cause but neither side willing to back down.
And so the war rages on.
Yet chances are that no one can even remember what started it in the first place.

I had so many plans.

What if i died here tonight?
Alone?

Wait.....
A noise.....
A click...
Someone moving...
Closer...
Frozen still...
Not prepared for fighting.
Not after the last one.
Head spinning
body feels numb
trying not to breathe.
Sensing a face in front of mine.
Then a warm kiss on my lips.
The foreign tongue oh so clear now when spoken in a beautiful whisper.
"I'm sorry" she said.
"Lets not fight again tonight"

And in that split second it all became clear to me.
I know why i stay
Why i fight
Why i'm glad that this war will never end.
Bcoz i am deeply in love with my wife and to leave her would mean i am not the man my father brought me up to be.



....I'm pretty sure that the fighting will commence again tomorrow.

But just for tonight.....

The War is over.